Safety attachment for boats



A118? 1958 'M. o. SLOULIN 2,848,725

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR BOATS Filed May 3, 1955 Fig.

Milton 0. S/ou/in INVENTOR.

' BY arm yaw E M5 United States Paten SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR BOATS Milton0. Sloulin, Maddock, N. Dak.

Application May 3, 1955, Serial No. 505,660

1 Claim. (Cl. 9-3) The present invention relates to new and usefulimprovements in safety attachments for boats constructed to provide anair chamber at the side of the boat to reduce the danger of capsizing orto keep the boat from sinking should it capsize, and also to form abumper to prevent damage to the boat when docking.

An important object of the invention is to provide a substantiallysemicylindrical inflated rubber tube with casings or sleeves at itslongitudinal edges and adapted to receive rigid strips therein forattaching the tube to the side of a boat to form a sponson for the boat.

Another object is to provide a safety device of this character of simpleand practical construction, which is efficient and reliable inoperation, relatively inexpensive to manufacture and otherwise welladapted for the purpose for which the same is intended.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational View;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on a line 2-2of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary enlarged group perspective view of theinflatable tube and showing the casings or sleeves for receiving theattaching strips.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, wherein for the purpose ofillustration, I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention,the numeral 5 designates a substantially semicylindrical rubber tubehaving its ends 2 closed and adapted for inflating with air to apredetermined pressure in any conventional manner.

The tube is formed with a back 6 which projects beyond the upper andlower edges of the tube and shaped to provide longitudinally extendinghollow casings or sleeves 7 and 8 adapted for inserting rigid attachingstrips 9 thereon.

The tube is of suflicient length to extend horizontally substantiallythroughout the length of a small boat or canoe 10 for attaching on theoutside thereof above the water line and adjacent the gunwale 11 bybolts and nuts or other suitable fasteners 12 inserted through thestrips and fastened to the side of the boat.

The air chamber may include one or more inflatable tubes, one within theother.

The inflated rubber tube constitutes a sponson to keep the boat afloatshould it capsize and also tends to reduce the danger of capsizing, aswell as to serve as a splash rail for the boat, and as a bumper toprevent damage to the side thereof.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation described andclaimed, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents maybe resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A safety device for boats comprising an elongated inflatable body,longitudinally extending flexible casings at the side edges of the body,rigid strips inserted in the casings, said casings conforming to theshape of said strips, and fastening means passing through the casingsand strips for securing the body to the side of a boat.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,187,505 Tea Jan. 16, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS 2,794 Great Britain A. D.1905 405,747 Great Britain Feb. 15, 1934 525,017 Great Britain Aug. 20,1940 551,153 Great Britain Feb. 9, 1943 819,721 Germany Nov. 5, 1951

